World's next tallest tower: Super green, very pink

Chinese towers reach for new heights – The Phoenix Towers, designed by UK-based Chetwoods Architects, will be taller than Burj Khalifa in Dubai, currently the world's tallest completed building.

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World's next tallest tower is super green and really pink5 photos

Celestial spheres – Three of the spheres in between the towers will serve as celestial-themed restaurants. There are also plans for a giant, wind-powered kaleidoscope.

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World's next tallest tower is super green and really pink5 photos

Getting off the drawing board – Last year, another architectural attempt to beat the world's tallest building record was postponed in the Chinese city of Changsa, due to the lack of government approval. The Phoenix Towers are still waiting for the final nod from Wuhan's mayor.

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World's next tallest tower is super green and really pink5 photos

Burj Khalifa (Dubai) – If completed, the largest Phoenix tower will reach one kilometer into the sky. It will be 172 meters taller than Burj Khalifa (pictured) in Dubai, which currently holds the record as the tallest structure ever built.

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World's next tallest tower is super green and really pink5 photos

Kingdom Tower (Saudi Arabia) – Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Tower is also planned to reach one kilometer into the sky, but is not due for completion until 2019.

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Story highlights

China to build the world's tallest towers, called the Phoenix Towers, in Wuhan in central China

The buildings will reach one kilometer into the sky, 172 meters higher than Burj Khalifa in Dubai

Both will feature high-tech environment features as well as the world's biggest kaleidoscope

No one can accuse China of stinting in its efforts to reach for the sky.

Less than a year after construction was halted on a world-beating 838-meter tower in Changsa in central China (just days after it began) architects have revealed plans to build something even bigger.

At one kilometer (0.6 miles) high, the largest of the two Phoenix Towers planned for Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China, will be the tallest in the world if completed on schedule in 2017/2018.

Designed to sit on an island in a lake, the largest of the towers will stand 172 meters (564 feet) taller than Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

The project is still awaiting government final approval, but if all goes to plan it could steal a march on the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which is also designed to top out at one kilometer, but not until 2019.

With a 2012 population of 9.7 million, Wuhan is located on the Yangtze River. It's a major transportation hub that's been called "the Chicago of China."